Most Ubuntu desktop users will be looking at this until at least 2028
GNOME 50 is here, codenamed Tokyo after the location of the GNOME Asia Summit 2025, and the biggest change is in fact more or less invisible, unless you look for an options button on the login screen.
This version is Wayland-only, and X11 support has been completely removed. Don't panic. X11 app support is still there; there is just no longer an X11 session. You can't log into GNOME 50 using X11 as the display server, locally or remotely, even if you manually install X.org. GNOME 50 itself still contains the XWayland X server, so you can still start and use X11 apps, the same as ever.
This aside, GNOME 50 brings improved accessibility, better parental controls, and enhanced variable refresh rate and fractional scaling support. Screen-sharing now supports HDR. There are refinements to all the various applications and separate components that come with the main desktop, notably including the Files and Settings programs.
It's not quite 25 years since the first version was released. GNOME 1.0 launched in March 1999, and GNOME 2.0 followed three years later. Since then it has kept quite close to a semiannual release schedule, and indeed, that schedule is what the Ubuntu release schedule was originally synchronized with.
The Ubuntu 26.04 roadmap says that "Resolute Raccoon," due next month, will use GNOME 50. As this will be an LTS release, that means that the majority of Ubuntu users will be looking at GNOME 50 at least until Ubuntu 28.04 – and many for Resolute's full five-year supported lifespan. Our impression from various Linux communities is that the majority of Ubuntu users seem not to realize that other flavors even exist – most just use the default GNOME edition.
The Reg FOSS desk always keeps an eye out for Ubuntu interim releases, and we've been running Ubuntu 25.10 on one of our older ThinkPads with non-upgradable Nvidia GPUs, alongside Pop!_OS 24.04. Both are Wayland-only, and we are slightly surprised to report that both work fine. The Wayland equivalent of the old X.org Nouveau generic driver for Nvidia cards picks up the ThinkPad W520's discrete GPU, and its DisplayPort connection and attached monitor. It just works, and the desktop knows it's a dual-GPU setup. For instance, right-click on an app icon in the Ubuntu dock, and there's an option to run it using the discrete GPU. GNOME 49 merely sees this as NVC1 while COSMIC knows it's an Nvidia Quadro 1000M, but either way, Wayland with recent kernels on old Nvidia kit works much better than a year or two ago.
Around the time of GNOME 46 on Ubuntu 24.04, in our testing this stuff did not work very well. For instance, a couple of years ago, Elementary OS 8's new Wayland session didn't work right on this kit. Ubuntu's Wayland support is significantly better now. In about six months, LTS upgrades will start rolling out, and a lot of people will have no choice but to give Wayland another try. Doubtless some will have problems, but it's reasonable to expect a GNOME and Wayland stack that will work much better than in the previous LTS.
The handling of high-end display hardware has improved, too. There are more scaling options, better handling of variable refresh rates including a low-latency mouse cursor, HDR and improved color management, graphics acceleration of remote-desktop sessions, and more. It should look smoother and less stuttery than ever. This vulture suspects that through his nearly 60-year-old eyes, he wouldn't be able to see any of this stuff – even if we had the kit to test it out, which we don't. Youths with keen eyesight may enjoy it, though.
Of course, mandatory Wayland is not the only change. GNOME 50 also brings improved parental controls, with screen-time limits and automatic screen locking at bedtime – improvements sponsored by a grant from the Endless Foundation. The team has been working on GNOME's accessibility support. The Orca screen-reader has received an overhaul, and there's a new option to reduce the amount of animation effects in GNOME.
GNOME Files – formerly called Nautilus, and about the only thing left from the ambitious Eazel startup from the turn of the century – is now faster and uses less memory, alongside multiple UI improvements.
The Document Viewer app was called Papers when it was introduced in GNOME 48, and now it has more support for annotations, including text, drawing lines, highlighting, and more.
The improvements to GNOME Calendar that we mentioned last time around continue, with better keyboard navigation, improved ICS file export, and more. Credit where it's due: GNOME's ability to connect to and integrate with cloud groupware accounts is one of its core strengths – it has some of the best tools for this in the FOSS space.
Several of the apps in the GNOME Circle library also have significant new versions, too. GNOME 50 includes Gtk 4.22 and various new features for developers.
GNOME 50 won't just be the default desktop of Ubuntu "Resolute" – it will also be front and center in Fedora 44. The beta version of that just appeared, so for an early look at the new desktop, that's worth a try. From prior experience, it's more likely to work on random hardware – or a non-GNOME hypervisor – than the latest GNOME OS. ®